


Learn To Fly

by mgallagher07



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-17
Packaged: 2017-12-26 16:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/968081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mgallagher07/pseuds/mgallagher07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andromeda Black has known for some time that life is unhappy for her, but she's been resigned to her fate, just as long as she'll still have her sisters by her side. This all makes sense, is all determined, until the beginning of her sixth year at Hogwarts. On August 31st, 1969,  her betrothal to one Rabastan Lestrange is announced, and Andromeda meets a young Hufflepuff who begins to show her that life can, indeed, be worth living. Change is coming. And everyone best be prepared for a battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> *I don't own any of the characters, and everything here, unless you count the situations the characters are put in, belongs to J.K. Rowling and her amazing mind.  
> *Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda's age gap has been reduced, though no other known ages have been changed from canon  
> *All feedback is appreciated

Being the way she was, quiet and generally aggreeable, Andromeda could scarcely believe the amount of fury that rose inside of her when she heard the announcement. How _dare_ they? Druella Rosier Black had never been warm, affectionate, or maternal in virtually any way, but for some reason, Andromeda Black never thought she could hold this amount of loathing towards the woman that gave birth to her. But really.  _Rabastan Lestrange?_ He was her brother. He was like her brother. Andromeda couldn't marry him, couldn't imagine having his children. To make matters worse, nobody had thought it would be important to so much as _tell_ Andromeda. 

She supposed if she'd been given a warning, any warning at all, she might have been able to accept that the betrothal wasn't too awful. After all, he was a friend of hers, and not as terrible as many of the other aspiring Knights. And as the knight went on, she eventually came to the sensible conclusion that she just wouldn't have any children. She hadn't exactly accepted it, she imagined it was impossible to accept such a surprise, but Andromeda decided that she'd just have to come to terms. 

"Ro!" Somebody called from a ways behind her. She immediatley adjusted posture and turned, finding the hard, black eyes of her now-fiancee. Relaxing a bit, Andromeda shook her head in greeting as he sat down, "You didn't know." He stated simply and she frowned, shaking her head once more. 

He was silent for a long time, and when she looked at him, she found she couldn't read his expression, "Rab, it's not  _you."_ she sighed, though it was, indeed, partly the idea of marrying him that had her so on edge, "I just don't know. I don't...I can't...I'm just a little bit tired of having every decision made for me." Black eyes flashed up to meet gray, "You understand, don't you?" He gave a little shrug and she bit her lip, about to open her mouth but deciding she wasn't going to try and justify the initial disgust she'd felt when she'd heard his name at the engagement announcement. 

He stood silently, stiffly, and looked at her, opening his mouth as though about to speak, before shutting it with a minute shake of his head and turning around.

"Well that one's a dud, eh?"

Andromeda turned and found her sisters sitting across from her at the white-clothed table. Bellatrix, 17 years old, proud and fiercely beautiful with that jet black hair overflowing over her shoulders and the steely dark eyes fixed on her, now filled with humor. Their younger sister, 15 now, was far softer, blue doe-eyes and sweet pink lips that were framed by her pale golden locks. Narcissa had always been the most beautiful, having inherited their mother's light coloring. Bellatrix looked like a female version of their father, all darkness and severity. Andromeda didn't know why she seemed to look so different from her sisters. Of course, everybody said she could be Bellatrix's mirror image, but there was something...different about them. She'd analyzed picures, her own reflection, over and over. There was just something missing from Andromeda. She had the same facial shape as Bellatrix, but her hair was a tiny bit lighter, and her eyes were a soft gray that had been inherited from another Black ancestor. She was like a faded version of Bella, and it scared her sometimes. 

Actually, that was a very good way to describe just about everything about Andromeda's life. 

"Ro. Earth to Ro. Did you hear me? I said he's a dud. Just like his brother."

"Oh, Bella, come now, he's not so awful."

"Cissy, you're only saying that because you like his hair, and I refuse to allow you to be so incredibly shallow."

"Oh hush you. Looks are just the inside reflected outwards."

"Great Zeus, I hope that's not true." Andromeda chimed in, earning an eye-roll from both of them.

"But as I was  _saying,"_ Bellatrix shot Narcissa a look, "He's rather boring. I mean, at least Rodolphus knows how to have fun. Rabastan's a bit of a doormat, if you ask me."

"Well then it's a good thing no one asked you. Isn't it, Bellatrix?" Black, grey, and blue all flashed up in fear to their father, who was wearing an entirely unreadable expression. He gave each of them a steady glare before focusing his eyes on his wife across the room and nodding, "I think it's time we went home."

Cygnus Black's estate was large and dark, complete with gargoyles and a gate. Of course, to the girls, it didn't seem so frightening. It was just home, and that was that. 

They'd gone shopping with the house elves the previous night, and each girl entered their room, went over their supplies for school once, and fell into bed. Narcissa fell asleep the moment her pretty little head hit her silken pillow, unburdened for the most part. Bellatrix fell asleep after planning out her final year at Hogwarts, just how to bring the inspirational ideas of the Knights of Walpurgis to school with her. But Andromeda...Andromeda lay awake for hours, wishing for things to be simpler. Wishing that, for once, she could follow her heart. 


	2. A Collection Of Happy Misfits

It was ironic, in a way, that while the pureblooded, beautiful, wealthy witch called Andromeda was having one of the worst days in her very  trying life, Ted Tonks, muggleborn, hufflepuff, and all-around unlucky man, was having one of the best. 

He was sitting around a table with his closest friends. To his immediate right was Alice Fortescue, little and sweet with a button-nose, wide brown eyes, and dark blonde hair. She was Ted's best friend, easily, and they had been sorted into Hufflepuff house together in their first year. Where Teddy was outgoing and loud, funny and easily entertained, Alice was introverted and kind, bookish and clever. She was one of the best people Teddy had ever met, and he couldn't quite imagine what life would be like for him without Alice Fortescue. 

Next to Alice sat Frank Longbottom, a strangely kind boy with a talent for making people laugh. He was a fierce dueller, and a bit clumsy around Alice, who he promised he certainly didn't have any feelings for. Frank was a Gryffindor ad it showed in his mannerisms, his tendency to laugh and grin and defend the innocent. He was a lot like Teddy in a lot of ways, but he tended to be a bit more bull-headed, and rush into things. He was also a little bit closed-minded, not that anybody talked about it. 

Next came Arthur and Molly, both brilliantly redheaded, with dispositions to match their fiery hair. Molly was a spitfire, brave and uncontrollable, and yet somehow soft, with a maternal instinct that came with having two twin younger brothers. Her long-time boyfriend, Arthur was a sweetheart, a father figure to the group in as many ways as Molly was a mother. And he had this incredible fascination with muggles which had, depending on your view of things, contributed greatly to the friendship forged between Teddy and Arthur. The couple had both had been sorted almost immediatley into Gryffindor when first donning the hat.

Charity Burbage and Arthur Weasley were kindred spirits, both sweet and gullible, and both sharing a deep interest for all things muggle. Charity was a wisp of a girl, pale blonde hair and light blue eyes, and she managed to ask the strangest questions anybody had ever heard regarding muggles, but with a seriousness that showed she needed to know the answer. True to her Hufflepuff placement, she was a little bit quet, but fiercely loyal and hardworking and intelligent.

Amos Diggory was the last of the group, a somewhat arrogant seventh year Hufflepuff who'd  been made Head Boy, and was throwing the little get-together to celebrate. Amos had the best of intentions, but he had a way of always praising himself, no matter what the situation truly called for. Most of his fellow seventh-years found him annoying, but Teddy and his friends were more than accepting of misfits, and he'd been welcomed into their midst gladly.

So there they sat, around a wicker table outside on the last day of summer, laughing and joyful and feeling free. 

And then Teddy Tonks felt a tug in his heart. 

The smile melted from his lips, and suddenly all he could think about was the lonely girl with the eyes like thunderstorms who he'd seen in the library last year, looking so so sad somehow. "Ted?" he heard distantly, "Ted, you alright, mate?"

It was Frank, reaching across Alice to nudge him, a bit worried.

"Oh. Oh." he blinked, shaking his head to rid him from the thoughts of the girl, and looked up to six highly concerned pairs of eyes. "Yeah, I'm...I zoned out."

"What were you thinking about?" Alice asked quietly, eyes still half-narrowed in concern, though everybody else had gone back to talking.

"Just this girl. The one from the library last year, remember?"

"Teddy." Alice said, the worry now dripping from her voice, "That was Andromeda Black. You know, from the oldest pureblood supremacist family around?" she bit her lip, analyzing him, "You should try and stop thinking about her. Godric knows, it could be dangerous."


End file.
